Tariffs, policy changes and a record crop: APAS reflects on 2025

The President of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) described 2025 as a busy one with no shortage of challenges and some good news sprinkled in.

Bill Prybylski did a year-end interview with Ryan Young, host of SaskAgToday and Ag News Director of 620 CKRM. You can find the full interview on SaskAgToday.com under the unfiltered section.
 
Prybylski said tariffs from the United States, China, and India - three of Canada's major trading partners - was the number one issue for APAS in terms of resources used to understand the impact on farmers and lobbying efforts.
 
Currently, China has tariffs on Canadian canola oil, seed, meal, yellow peas, seafood and pork. The U.S. currently has tariffs on Canadian lumber, upholstered wood products, and any product non-compliant with the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). India has an import duty on yellow peas from all countries, including Canada.

Canada has counter-tariffs on American steel, aluminium, and automobiles, as well as Chinese steel and aluminium, and electric vehicles.
 
Prybylski says the tariffs affected producers' bottom lines.
 
"We need to see some sort of resolution to these tariffs sooner than later because as time goes on, the uncertainty just keeps growing on producers as we start making plans for next year's crops," he said. "There is a lot of uncertainty as to what our returns are going to look like, and will the tariffs still be in effect when we come around to try to sell our next year's crops."
 
The tariffs also affected producers in different ways, Prybylski said. The levies from the U.S., for example, increased the cost of inputs for Canadian farmers, while the ones from China had a significant impact on canola and pea prices.
 
Efforts have been made from the federal and provincial governments to resolve the trade disputes, including multiple trips to China and the U.S. from both levels of government to converse with counterparts to leaders having conversations on the sidelines of international summits.